


i am in love with you.

by cursebreakker



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: 19th Century, F/M, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, Idiots in Love, Miscommunication, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21555556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cursebreakker/pseuds/cursebreakker
Summary: a little something i wrote between 3x09 and 3x10, it's how i imagined 3×10 confession could be like.
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe & Anne Shirley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 88





	i am in love with you.

**Author's Note:**

> y'all the real 3x10...speechless.

Gilbert Blythe looked down at the pouch where his mother’s ring was, then at the small seashell beside it. He knew what he had to do.

  
-

  
Anne Shirley-Cuthbert stared at the sea as her mind wandered. She’d left him a note, a very brief, but very direct note. Anne wouldn’t cry about it, she’d shed enough tears already, but telling herself not to cry wasn’t always successful, she felt one lonely tear escape her eye and run down her cheek. She wiped at it, looking at the moisture in her hand and hating how it made her feel weak.

  
But her chest hurt and her pride was in tatters because she'd put all her feelings in a piece of paper that probably ended in Gilbert Blythe's fireplace. Or maybe he didn't even see it, she did put it under a vase covering his name…but she'd wanted his eyes only to see the note, no one else's. She had not thought about the possibility of him never finding the note.

  
What had she done? She needed to make sure he'd got the note…she needed to…make things right! And if he did saw the note, then she'd politely take her words back and ask him to forgive her brashness, she'd beg him to not let that affect their friendship. A friendship they'd took so long to nurture.  
She turned on her heels, intent on smoothing all wrinkles in this business and marched down the cliff where she'd been watching over the sea. Her feet guiding her to the Blythe-Lacroix household.

  
-

  
Winnifred Rose opened the door for him with a big, welcoming smile on her face that quickly fell when she noticed the anguished look in his face.

  
“What's wrong?”

  
Gilbert put a hand over his heart, feeling the strong beatings through the fabric of his jacket. Feeling the small object hidden in the pocket over his heart. He tried to extract strength from it, courage. Then, he said: “I need to speak with you.”

  
-

  
Anne knocked on Gilbert's door frantically, her hands trembling. She began speaking before seeing who'd answered the door.

  
“Did you get my note?”

  
Bash, holding a very cute looking baby Delly, looked at Anne with a puzzled look. “What note?”

  
She looked past him, to the kitchen table where the vase she'd put her note under should be. The vase was there, with fresh flowers on it. No note underneath.

  
“I-I left a note for Gilbert earlier today,” she told Bash, tucking a stray red lock behind her ear. “I left it under the flower vase.” She wringed her hands together, clearly upset about something. “I thought maybe he hadn't seen it, but it's obviously not there anymore…so he did see it.”

  
Bash kept staring at Anne, not making any sense of her words. He pushed the door opened, inviting her in, but she shook her head.

  
“I can't face him…I thought I could, but…tell him I'm sorry for being so brash, that I wish him the best in his new life…I wish him happiness above all else. And that I don't want to lose his friendship.”

  
Before he could question her further, she turned on her heels and sprinted away. Leaving Bash confused, thinking of the words she'd said until he realized that the note she'd left Gilbert probably contained something really important.

  
-

  
She'd been so stupid. Foolish. To think that maybe he hadn't seen the note, that it had escaped his notice. What a childish idea! Stuff straight out of novels, and she didn't live in a novel. Definitely not a romantic novel.

  
Anne ran back to Green Gables not containing the tears already streaming down her face, Marilla saw the girl rush pass her and shoot up the stairs. She went after her, hearing the soft cries coming from the girl's bedroom.

  
She knocked, waiting for Anne to respond.

  
“It's too late, Marilla!” She cried, burying her face in her pillow when the older woman entered the room.

  
Marilla sat at the edge of Anne's bed, stroking her hair back from her face. “I'm so sorry, Anne. I wish it'd been different.”

  
“The note I left him…I thought that maybe he hadn't seen it. I went to his house and saw that the note wasn't where I'd left it. He saw it, Marilla, and he went to Charlottetown anyway.”

  
Marilla stood close by while Anne cried, rubbing the girl's back and offering reassuring words. She knew heartbreak like this, and she didn't wish for her Anne to be feeling it as well.

  
“I'm a fool, Marilla. I've been impulsive and brash, and now my friendship with him is ruined too!”

  
Marilla frowned. “Don't be absurd, Anne! There's no reason why your friendship should suffer.”

  
Anne wiped her eyes. “Will he think the same?”

  
Marilla, remembering the boy's father, said. “I’m sure he does.”

  
Her friendship with John Blythe hadn't suffered a bit. Only her poor, old heart did.

  
-

  
“Anne has been here asking about you,” Bash says as soon as Gilbert walks through the door.

  
“Why?” The boy raises one eyebrow.

  
“I don’t know, but she seemed disturbed. She mentioned a note…you know anything about that?”

  
Gilbert shook his head. “I know nothing of any note. Was she sick? Injured?”

  
Bash chuckled. “No, no. Nothing like that, but she did look very sad. Said she’d hoped you didn’t see the note, then she saw that the table where she’d left it had no note in it and she took off, assuming you received the message, whatever it was.”

  
His mind was reeling with possibilities. Maybe someone in her family was sick? Why would she need to speak with him so urgently?

  
“And she said she wishes you a good life, that you will be happy. She said she’s sorry for being so brash and that you please don't let it ruin your friendship. But I have the feeling that these words only make sense if you've read said note.”

  
Gilbert's heart was in his throat. He had the same feeling. Whatever was on that note, he needed to read it.

  
“Help me find it.”

  
Both men started scavenging the kitchen for the note. They looked under vases, inside the cupboards, under the chairs and tables, under the counters, but they found no traces of said note. Gilbert groaned, pushing a chair out of his way, the thing came crashing down on the floor and Delly began to cry in the other room due to the noise.

  
Gilbert looked up at Bash, weary. “I’m sorry.” Guilt bloomed in his chest for making his niece cry. He felt despair mingled with the sensation, he needed to find that note. He had to know what Anne was going on about.

  
He exited the house, stomping down the steps and moving his legs with purpose to where he knew he’d find the answers.

  
-

  
Marilla left her alone in the room after she asked for some space to be alone with her thoughts. She had so many of them.

  
Gilbert saw her note, he probably threw it away. Probably on his way to Charlottetown, clutching a wedding ring in the other hand. She hated the pinch in her chest, the feeling of inadequacy. Of course he’d choose Winnie. She was beautiful, perfect, she was everything a wife should be…and she was rich. Anne didn't think that that was the only reason for Gilbert's affection, but it certainly didn't hurt that his bride-to-be came with a large dowry and her family offered to pay for his education in Sorbonne.

  
Anne sighed. How could she compete?

  
But again, why had he said those things to her that night…when he spoke then, it seemed awfully like a confession, like he was trying to tell her something without actually spelling it out. Anne rolled the scene in her head again, the devastated look on his face when she couldn't come up with any words. Her! Anne! Speechless! A new feat, for sure. How could she have said anything? He'd just sang praises to Winnie and her family, showed her the life he'd miss if he didn't pick her…how could she deny him that future? His dream? Even if they were happy together, it would be brief. He'd turn bitter after some time, and they would argue…she knew they would because they always argued. How could she possibly compare to Winnifred?

  
A small noise caught her attention. She looked to the floor and saw a small rock lying there. She went to grab it, but another pebble flew through the window almost hitting her in the head. Anne ran to the window, ready to scold Jerry for playing pranks on her when she felt her entire body being gripped by a cold hand.

  
Gilbert stood below her window, a handful of pebbles in one hand and windswept hair. As if he’d ran here. She looked at the horse tied to a tree nearby, he’d galloped here.

  
-

  
Anne’s face appeared at the window, brows furrowed. She immediately froze when her eyes landed on him, making a thrill run through his body.

  
What was he going to say? He didn’t think this through. Anne kept staring at him, half her body out of the window looking down at him.

  
“What are you doing here, Gilbert?” Her voice carried through the wind, a bite in her words that had him startled into action.

  
“Bash told me of your visits,” he said, hoping that his voice carried up to her. “May we speak?”

  
“I am speaking with you.”

  
Gilbert smiled. “Face to face.”

  
Anne went back into her room, for a moment he thought she'd just leave him there planted below her window and feeling like an idiot. But she came out the back door with a serious face.

  
“Hi,” he says offering her a weak smile.

  
She crosses her arms and stares at something over his shoulder, not meeting his eyes. He doesn't sense she's angry with him, but there's definitely something bothering her.

  
“I-I heard you left me a note?”

  
Anne's eyes whip back to his face, searching for signs that he's mocking her. But she sees truth in his eyes and worry in the lines of his mouth, he didn't get the note. “You didn't get it?”

  
“No,” he says rubbing the back of his head with one hand and looking apologetic.

  
Anne lets out a sigh of relief. “Oh, that's…good. It was nothing important.”

  
Gilbert gives her a inquiring look. “Bash told me you were distressed, that the note probably had something important in it…what was it?”

  
“Nothing, I overreacted. How was your trip to Charlottetown?” Anne countered, hoping to steer the conversation in another direction.

  
He shakes his head, eyebrows bunching together in a confused frown. “I don't understand. If the note wasn't important at all why did Bash tell me you were sad?”

  
Anne felt her cheeks heat with color, words fleeing her mind the moment she tried to catch them to form a coherent sentence. A string of sounds came out of her mouth, not at all resembling speech.

  
“Why were you sad, Anne?” Gilbert pushed, taking one step further and closing the distance between them.

  
It was too much. The rejection, the feeling of not being enough, Gilbert's trip to Charlottetown to get engaged…Anne felt tears at the corner of her eyed before she could even stop them coming. Gilbert looked troubled, he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

  
“Hey,” he said softly. “What's wrong?” Without thinking he drew her body to his, enveloping his arms around hers. He remembered she doing the same when he was stricken by grief for Mary's health. He wondered what'd made her cry just then.

  
Against his chest, she breathed and pulled in his familiar scent. Heady from the hug they shared, Anne's tongue fell loose and she finally could speak again. “I’m happy for you, Gilbert.”

  
He pulled her a little away from his body so he could look down at her face. She spoke in earnest, eyes filled with sorrow that didn't match her words.

  
“I’m glad that you are happy for me…but may I ask why?”

  
Anne pushed him away then, curling her lip in disgust. “Must I spell it out for you? E-n-g-a-g-e-m-e-n-t. Engagement. Congratulations on getting yourself a bride.”

  
He stood before her for a moment and then realization came to him. Anne thought he'd asked Winnie to marry him, when in reality all he'd thought about in the recent days was a way to let her down easily. Gilbert didn't love her, he wouldn't marry a girl whom he felt nothing but the littlest of tickling in his stomach. He wanted to be with someone who drenched him in feeling, that left him gasping for air because the force of his love was too strong to bear.

  
He wanted to be with someone like Anne. His Anne. His dream.

  
“I did not ask her to marry me.”

  
The girl he loved paused in her tumbling of words, because she'd been sputtering nonsense about how he would be happy with a rich and beautiful wife, he’d get Sorbonne too, and all the benefits of marrying well. He didn't listen to those, he didn't care for those. Not while Anne stood before him with red cheeks and loose braids, her words provoking hope to blossom in his chest.

  
“I didn't want to marry her.” He stops her speech and takes another step closer. They're chest to chest now, breath mingling with breath. Hearts reaching for each other through their clothes.

  
“W-why?” Anne stutters.

  
Gilbert offers her a lopsided smile, as if to say: isn't it obvious? His hand goes to her cheek, the back of his knuckles grazing the delicate skin there. He pulls his hand away, but can still feel her warmth in his skin.

  
“Because, Anne Shirley-Cuthbert, I'm in love with you.” He whispers it like it's a secret.

  
For a moment she seems too shocked to react, but then his words sink into her skin and travel through her bloodstream until they reach her heart. She feels the most warmest of hugs enveloping her heart. Liquid happiness erupts deep in her chest, spreading it throughout her whole body. Anne offers Gilbert a lovely smile that makes his ribs expand with the harsh intake of breathe he suddenly takes.

  
“Am I dreaming?” She whispers back.

  
Gilbert jokingly pinches the skin on her wrist. Then rubs his thumb over the spot, wishing he could kiss it.

  
“You are not.”

  
“Then you love me?”

  
“Ever since you broke a slate over my head,” he says with a chuckle.

  
“Why? W-why me?”

  
Gilbert frowns. “Why not?”

  
She takes a few steps back, weary. “I don't want to hold you back, Gilbert. I can't offer you the same life you could've had with her.”

  
He shakes his head. “A life with you is all I dream of. I don't need riches and prestige, but I need you. Your love. Tell me I have it, but if I don't I'll take my leave and never speak of it again.”

  
Anne cried, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest.

  
“Of course you have it! I've loved you for a long time, Gilbert, I can't tell you when it started, but I can tell you that I don't see myself living without it. Not one single day.”

  
He touched her forehead with his. Breathed out her name. Their mingled, their words hang in the space between their bodies, and Gilbert lowered his lips to Anne's very slowly.  
They kissed sweetly at first, then with the urgency of young love and new experiences. Gilbert had to pull back before Anne did something impulsive and put them both into trouble. He planned on doing this right. Courting her first.

  
“I'm so happy,” she said with eyes bright like starlight.

  
“As am I.”

  
The young couple kissed once more, then parted with the promise that they'd meet again the next day. For the time being, Anne had to figure out a way of how to tell Marilla that Gilbert loved her after all, while the boy had to break the news to Bash and tell him he'd not be leaving the island anytime soon, and definitely not without Anne.

  
The future was promising for those two, and they both had love in their minds and hearts when they laid their heads in their pillows at night.


End file.
